Art of dyeing or similarly treating textiles



E. S. GRAVES. ART OF DYE'ING 0R SIMILARLY TREATING TEXTILES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5,1919.

Patented Aug, 3, 1920.

UNITED STATES EUGENE s. canvas,

0F PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

ART OF DYEING- OR SIMILARLY TREATING TEXTILES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EUGENE S. GRAVES, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Dyeing or Similarly Treating Textiles,-of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to the art of dyeing or similarly treating textile yarns, threads, fibers, or filaments and consists in an improved dye cop or package and method of producin the same. My improved cop or package 1s intended for use particularly in dyeing fine and delicate filaments, such as wood silk, fiber or other artificial silk, and one object of the improvement is to provide a method of winding which will not strain or break the filament, while producing a cop in which the material can be successfully dyed and from which the material may be freely unwound without dyeing operation.

0 t larly in winding the fine filament in combination with one or more strands of a coarser,, stronger material-"such as cotton yarn. The cotton strand serves not onl to reinforce the'silk strand during the win ing and unwindin a cushioning base or support: for the silk during the dyeing process so that the latter may expand or swell when immersed and may also contract in the dryin without materially distorting the form 0 the package and without stretching or rupturing the filament.

The preferred method of carrying out In improvement is fully described in the f0 lowing specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view showing one form of my improved dye cop and illustrating the preferred method of winding a silk filament with a coarser-yarn; D

Fig. 2 1s a sect1onal, perspectlve view through the windings showing the porous structure of the cop and illustrating the cushioning effect between the cotton and silk: and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the porous tube or support on which the cop is wound.

It has been the usual practice to dye fiber Specification of Letters Patent.

be loose and free breakage after the his end my invention consists particuoperations, but also acts as dyeing operations.

may fully dyed orv similarly treate or V wind.

of yarn, thread, fiber or the like are dis- Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application filed July 5, 1919. Serial No. 308,775.

or artificial silk in skeins or hanks so that the strands or filaments may separate and to allow for expansion and contraction. Artificial silk made from wood, collodion or other fiber swells to an abnormal degree When subjectedv to immersion or wetting and for this reason it has heretofore been found absolutely impracticable to dye it in the cop. If wound into a solid mass the expansion of the material under immersion will cause the package to swell and bulge out of shape and to be distorted to such an extent that it cannot be freely unwound. Furthermore, as the inner mass swells and expands it stretches and strains the outer strands, causing the material to be weakened andin some cases ruptured so that it is spoiled for further use.

The handling of artificial silk in the skeindyeing process presents many difiiculties, particularly in reeling it into, and unreelmg it from, the skeins and the Waste from snarling, breakage and piecing is frequently as high as twenty per cent. Only the most expert operators can successfully reel and rewind the gossamer like filaments and even with careful handling the wasta e is excessive and the work is always dlfiicult and laborious. The necessity for highly paid operatives and the great wastage entailed in handling the silk results in a high cost of dyeing which cost of the material itself, so that many attempts have therefore been made to provide some method of treatment which will effect economies both-in the handling and I believe I am the first to devise a method of packaging fine, delicate fibers orfilaments, such as artificial silk, Without straining or breaking the material, and in such manner that it be successin the cop without excessive distortion of the latter,

and without causing strain or breakage from the swelling and contraction of the material. Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings my improved dye cop C is preferably wound with what is termed a cross-wind and, most conveniently, bya system familiar to those versed in the textile art as the Universal With this system the strands posed about a central, tubular core or support with the layers of the windings built up with parallel coils extending in spirals or helices from one end of the cop to the other.

each other at a sharp angle and build up in a substantially cylindrical mass which is self sustaining without the use of end-flanges or spool-heads.

In order to render the dye-cop or package permeable to the dye liquor, or other treating fluid, from its center outward I choose to employ a porous tube for its core or support, although in some cases the cop might be built up on a solid core or mandrel and then-removed therefrom for dyeing. I have found it more convenient, however, to provide a permanent, inner core or support for the cop and preferably I make use of a porous tube T such as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. for dye-cops is shown and described in detail in United States reissued Letters Patent No. 13,223, (original No. 974,126) granted to F. H. Daniel, Mar, 28, 1911, and consists essentially in a porous sleeve S of reticulated fabric stretched over a helical coil orribbed framework F of metal. Such a form of tube provides for holding a plurality of cops in series, strung on a stringer or other support, while allowing the mass of material in the cops to be compressed to a uniform density by end pressure. The helical ribs F of the tube T permit the cop to contract longitudinally of its axis, when subjected to end pressure, and the porous sleeve S allows the dye liquor to permeate the entire mass when forced radially outward or inward through the cop. \Vhile I have herein illustrated this preferred form of cop-tube for use in packaging the material for dyeing or similar processing, it is to be understood that I do not wish to limit my invention in this respect, since, in some cases the dye-cop might be built up on a non-flexible or rigid tube.

In Fig. 1, the reference character 8 desi nates the strand or filament of artificial si k or similar material, and c the strand of cotton or other coarser yarn. As here shown both strands are enlarged somewhat over their natural size for the sake of clearness in the drawings, the silk strand being usually an extremely fine and gossamer like filament. In winding the silk 8 with the cotton strand 0 I have found it most convenient to double them in the package. That is to say, the two strands are drawn off from separate supplies, such as a' skein containing the silk'and a spool or bobbin carrying the cotton, and both strandsare preferably fed through the same threadguide to deliver them to the cop in parallel. be laid in place on the cop in contiguous, parallel relation extending in continuous helical coils from one end of the package to the other and back again. The cop is usu- The coils in successive layers cross This type of porous tube filament.

The two strands s and 0 will therefore ally wound"open, that is, the coils are disposed some distance apart, thus providing a sort of honeycombed structure, best shown in Fig. 2, as the turns of the winding cross each other at a sharp angle. This form of open, wound. cop is preferable as being more porous and therefore more perthe cop and thus preventing straining or breaking the delicate filament. Moreover, the cotton or other yarn 0 possesses considerable inherent elasticity which adapts it to yield or give with a cushioning effect so that strain or rupture of the silk strand is further prevented in this way.

During the operation of winding the cop the cotton strand 0 serves as a reinforcement for the silk strand 8 and prevents straining or breaking the filament under the tension imposed upon it in the winding. In the same way, when the cop is unwound after the dyeing operation the cotton strand takes the tension off the silk and also tends to prevent the latter from snarling or tangling so that it is much less liable to be strained or broken under this handling.

In carrying out the dyeing or other like process with my improved dye package the preferred practice is to stringa series of the cops in alinement while holding them under pressure at the ends to bring the mass of material to a uniform density. The packages are then grouped in the dye vat or keir, and usually the dye liquor or other fluid is forced through the mass of material in the cops under pressure. The porous tube T allows the fluid topass completely 'through the cop, both radially inward and outward; and the porous or honeycombed structure of the cop itself provides for a thorough permeation of the fluid to all parts of the mass, as before explained. Moreover, the relatively soft, absorbent cotton in the cop serves in a sort of sponge-like capacity to take up a maximum content of the dye liquor or other: fluid and to thus assist in the impregnation of the less absorbent fiber During the dyeing, mordanting, drying or other treatment the soft washing,

cotton yarn in the cop acts as a cushion, permitting the fiber or silk filament to swell and contract without stretching it in the coils and thus preventing the delicate material from being strained or broken. Stated briefly, as the fiber or artificial silk swells or expands from the wetting it is prevented from compacting into a hard, solid mass and from distorting and bulging the packa e.

lVhile I have herein illustrated my improved dye-cop as wound with the silk 8 doubled with the coarser cotton yarn 0 it is to be understood that the combining of the different materials in'the c'op might be varied somewhat without losing the advantages of the present system; For instance, one or more strands of the fiber or silk might be wound in multiple with two or more strands of cotton, and other modifications could be made in the method of winding. The silk and cotton could be traversed on the cop by separate thread-guides so that,

although not lying in contiguous turns, they would still cross and recross each other in the layers and provide the cushioning effect required. Likewise, the cotton and silk could be wound in alternate layers of spacedapart coils and these and other modifications in the method of winding would still fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

After the dyeing or other process is completed the cop is unwound to separate the different materials, the fiber or artificial silk being copped, spooled or skeined for further processes to prepare it for weaving or other uses in the textile arts. The cotton yarn may also be copped or spooled for various uses, or may be retained for repeated use in preparing the silk for the dyeing process. It is to be understood that in the foregoing description I have employed the term silk in a general sense as relating to any fine or delicate fiber or filament of a like nature; and likewise, the term cotton is used without restriction since strands or yarns of other material could be used in its stead.

It is my belief that the herein described process of combining a fine delicate filament with a coarser, stronger strand to prepare it for dyeing or similar new in the art, and therefore I wish to claim the invention in its broadest sense without limitation as to the exact nature of the materials described or the system of winding the cop or package as herein explained.

What I claim is: 1. A method of preparing fibrous filaments for dyeing or other processes consisting in packaging the same in cross-wound cops in which the filament is wound in combination with a separate strand or strands of material of a different nature.

2. A method of prepari'n'g' -fibrous .fila

ments for dyeing or other processes consistcoarser material with the windings disposed ing in winding the same into packages in combination with a strand or strands of helically and crossing each other at an an le.

3. A method of preparing fibrous laprocesses is entirely ments for dyeing or other processes consisting'in winding the same into packages in combination with a strand or strands of an absorbent material with the windings laid helically with respect to the axis of the package and the several strands maintained independent of one another. 70

4. A method of preparing fibrous filaments for dyeing or other processes consisting in winding the filament into a package in combination with a separate strand or strands of cotton yarn with the windings laid helically of the axis of the package and maintained separate and independent of .each other.

5. A method of preparing fibrous filaments for dyeing or other processes consisting in winding a mass of soft yarn and winding the filament across the coils of the yarn.

6. A method of preparing fibrous filaments for dyeing or similar processes consisting in winding the same in combination with strands of a coarser material with the strands disposed in open relation to form a porous mass.

- 7. An improved cop or package for use in dyeing or otherwise treating textiles composed of strands of different materials interwound therein.

I 8. An improved cop for use in dyeing or otherwise posed of windings of a relatively soft material with strands of the filament interwound therewith.

9. An improved cop or package for use in dyeing or otherwise treating fibrous filaments comprising a cushion-like body of yarn windings with windings of the filament superimposed thereon.

10. An improved 'copor package for use in dyeing or otherwise treating fibrous filaments consisting of superimposed layersof cross wound strands of yarn with windings of the filament laid back and forth in relation thereto.

11. An improved cop or package for use in dyeing or otherwise treating textiles comprising windings of yarn and a fibrous filament wound in parallelism therewith.

12. An improved cop or package for dyeing or otherwise treating textiles comprising windings of yarn disposed in open relation and windings of a fibrous filament interspersed with the yarn windings.

13. An improved cop or package for dyeing or otherwise treating textiles composed EUGENE S. GRAVES.

treating fibrous filaments com- 95 

